Grandpa Tells The Tale
by missy52061
Summary: Jim Beckett and his grandson get ready to watch the New York Mets play a playoff game. In honor of the Mets being in the playoffs for the first time in 9 years. Let's Go Mets! I don't own Castle, I only wish I did.


Jim Beckett was a happy guy. Not only was his favorite baseball team, the New York Mets, in the playoffs, but he was getting ready to watch the first National League Division Series game of the season with his five year old grandson, James Castle. Jim's daughter and son-in-law had to go to a fund raiser tonight. Normally, Jamie and his sister Hannah would hang out with big sister Alexis, but since the fund raiser was a police department thing, Alexis and Mike were going too. Martha was always willing to watch the kids, but when Jamie realized that the Mets game was on tonight, he asked Jim if he could be the designated babysitter. And there was no way that Jim would say no to that. So Martha was watching Hannah at her place while he and Jamie were getting ready to watch the game at his.

So he was sitting on his living room couch, wearing his Mets National League East champion tee shirt, while his grandson sat next to him wearing his National League East champs shirt too. They had a dinner of baseball food – hot dogs – on Mets paper plates, and drank their soda out of Mets paper cups. They had an array of snacks – popcorn, potato chips, M&Ms in Mets blue and orange – on the table in front of them. The pre-game show was on the TV, but Jamie wasn't interested in that. He had other questions.

"Grandpa, have you really been a Mets fan since forever? That's what Mommy told me," the little guy wanted to know.

"Well, Jamie, I've been a Mets fan for their forever. When I was a little boy…," he started.

"Little like me? Or little like Hannah?" the five year old wanted to know.

"Little like you. In those olden days," the grandfather grinned "the Mets didn't exist. The Dodgers played their games in Brooklyn, and I grew up there. They would get to the World Series, but they almost always had to play the dreaded Yankees. And the Yankees would almost always beat them. But in 1955, when I was five years old like you, the Dodgers finally beat the Yankees! Everyone in Brooklyn was very happy. " Jim smiled, remembering those days. "But a few years later, the Dodgers left Brooklyn and went to play in California."

"Were you sad? I would be sad if the Mets left New York," Jamie said.

"Yes, Jamie, I was very sad. So was my dad. And I didn't know it, but your Grandma Jo was sad too. She was a Dodgers fan too. Almost every Dodgers fan didn't have a team to root for. The Yankees were still here, but most Dodgers fans couldn't switch to the team that beat their favorite team so often. But then we got lucky – the Mets were born! We had a team to root for again," Jim continued.

"Did Grandma root for the Mets too?" Jamie wanted to know.

"Yes, she did. Now in the beginning, the Mets were a horrible team. But we didn't care. We loved them anyway. Then things started to change, and they actually won a World Series when I was about 19 years old. That was fun. We had to wait a long time for them to win the World Series again, but by that time I was married to Grandma Jo, and your mommy was a little girl."

As he told his grandson the story of his favorite team, Jim was flooded with memories. He remembered when he first met Johanna at the firm. She had remarked on the Tom Seaver autographed baseball on his desk, and that was their first connection. They had actually gone to a Mets game together before they officially "dated", but Jo had always teased him that the game was their first date. After all, they ate a meal and had a drink together. He would tease her back and say that the meal was a hot dog and the drink was a soda, and they'd share a laugh. He remembered how all three of them went to games together. He remembered how much fun they had rooting for the Mets in 1986, when they won it all. He remembered how their mutual love of the Mets started to heal his and Katie's wounds after Jo's death and his alcoholism drove them apart. And he thought about how his grandson was already carrying on the Beckett family tradition.

"Look, Grandpa, the game is about to start!" Jamie was jumping up and down in his excitement. Jim turned his attention from the past to the present and turned up the sound. Let's go Mets, he thought as he watched the first pitch sail across the plate.


End file.
